WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice said on Thursday she would press Iraq's Arab neighbors
hard next week to do more to support Baghdad's government and
shield it from Iran's "nefarious influences."

Rice, set to attend a conference of Iraq's neighbors in
Kuwait on Tuesday, said her message would be for Arab states to
fulfill their promises to increase diplomatic, economic, social
and cultural ties with Baghdad's government.

"What Iraq now needs most and what I will push for in
Kuwait is greater support from its neighbors," Rice said. "That
includes establishing embassies in Baghdad and exchanging
ambassadors."

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Iraq's Sunni Arab neighbors, notably Saudi Arabia, have so
far resisted U.S. pressure to open embassies in Baghdad, which
Washington argues would bolster the Shi'ite-led government of
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and help counter the influence of
neighboring Shi'ite Iran.

Rice said Iraq should be "fully reincorporated" into the
Arab world by its neighbors, who have been suspicious of
Maliki's government and its ties with Iran.

Iraq is an Arab nation while Iran's roots are Persian. Both
countries, however, have majority Shi'ite populations.

"What they need to do is confirm and work for Iraq's Arab
identity," she said. "That in and of itself will begin to
shield (Iraq) from influences of Iran that are nefarious
influences," Rice said at a news conference.

She also said Iraq's Arab neighbors could help encourage
the Sunni minority to participate more fully in the political
process in Iraq and to offer Baghdad much-needed debt relief,
which has been slow in coming.

Iraq expert and ex-CIA analyst Bruce Riedel said Rice faced
an upward battle in Kuwait to get Sunni states to do more.

"She will have a very difficult time with the Gulf states
in convincing them that the Maliki government is anything other
than the cat's paw of the Iranians," said Riedel, now with the
Saban Center at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

En route to Kuwait, Rice will stop off in Bahrain for
meetings with ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council as
well as Egypt and Jordan to press her case for greater support
for Baghdad. The GCC comprises Saudi Arabia, the United Arab
Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain.

"MALIGN ACTIONS"

Rice said Iran must stop its "malign actions" in Iraq,
where Washington says Tehran has stoked violence and was behind
the latest fighting in the southern city of Basra.

Iran's mission to the United Nations on Thursday rejected
as baseless U.S. charges that Tehran was stirring up violence
in Iraq and said there had never been any evidence to
corroborate such claims.

"To the contrary. the realities on the ground along with
clear statements by Iraqi officials attest to the invalidity of
such claims," said the statement e-mailed to Reuters.

At previous neighbors' meetings, Rice exchanged
pleasantries but had no substantive talks with Iranian Foreign
Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who is expected at the Kuwait
meeting.

Rice said she did not intend in Kuwait to have talks with
Mottaki to discuss security issues in Iraq.

The United States has no diplomatic ties with Iran. But the
U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker has held several rounds of
talks with his Iranian counterpart to discuss the security
situation.

The United States is also at loggerheads with Iran because
of its nuclear program and has said it will only talk to Tehran
about that issue if Iran gives up sensitive nuclear work that
Washington believes is aimed at building a nuclear bomb. Iran
argues its nuclear program is for peaceful power purposes.

(Additional reporting by Patrick Worsnip at the United
Nations; Editing by Xavier Briand)